On June 27, 2023, Airship AI and BYTE entered into a definitive business combination agreement. The transaction contemplated by the business combination agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Airship AI and BYTE and remains subject to stockholder approval, and other customary closing conditions.

BYTE Acquisition Corp. and Airship AI to Attend the ROTH 12th Annual New York Technology Conference

A study has suggested an aircraft that is part-plane-part-airship could deliver tonnes of freight around the Highlands and Islands. Bedford-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has looked at how its Airlander 10 transport could operate from sites in Orkney,

Large electric aircraft could deliver freight to isles

'Almost a Certainty' Mike Pence Flips on Donald Trump, Legal Analyst Warns Face mask effectiveness: What science knows now Biden signs sweeping artificial intelligence executive order Pentagon announces new nuclear bomb 24 times more powerful than one ...

HII secures $79M Missile Defense Agency technical services contract

The FAA will work with the US Air Force to share data to aid in the integration of Advanced Air Mobility aircraft into the national airspace.

US Air Force to share data with FAA on advanced air mobility testing

For more information about Systems Technology Inc., please visit www.systemstech.com. For more information about AI Redefined, please visit www.airedefined.com. About Systems Technology Inc.: Systems Technology Inc. (STI) is a technology company at the ...

Systems Technology Inc. and AI Redefined Join Forces to Develop World's First eVTOL Pilot Training Simulator

The 400-foot Pathfinder 1 airship has been granted an airworthiness certificate, enabling it to undergo a 180-day test program.

Google co-founder's 400-foot airship is cleared for flight

Airships may not work in real life, but video games don't have that kind of limitation which has resulted in some incredible looking ships.

Most Iconic Airships In Video Games, Ranked

Sergey Brin's LTA Research has been granted airworthiness certificate to commence outdoor flights for its Pathfinder 1.

Google Co-Founder's Proof-Of-Concept Airship, Pathfinder 1, Earns Airworthiness Certificate

Google cofounder Sergey Brin's airship company, LTA Research, announced it received clearance to begin outdoor flights for its massive Pathfinder 1.

Google cofounder Sergey Brin's secretive 'air yachts' have been approved for flight

Google co-founder Sergey Brin quietly founded LTA Research in 2015, and its massive Pathfinder 1 rigid airship prototype is preparing for its first outdoor flights, with a view to speeding up disaster response and starting zero-infrastructure cargo flights.

Sergey Brin's 400-foot airship reportedly cleared for takeoff

Airship

airship

Understanding a market isn’t about watching a trend evolve but about understanding what is behind the trend and where it will go next. In this article, I’ll share our vision of the processes that are now impacting — and how to use them to create a successful strategy. GameFi You have to analyze GameFi in combination with classic GameDev, together with the general consumer leisure trends. Such emerging and rapidly growing niches of the entertainment industry as GameFi can’t exist in isolation from the social trends or from the economy. Therefore, in the first part of the article, I will focus on the financial aspect (the Fi in GameFi) and then turn to the reasons and prospects for the trend. Intangible assets are becoming an ever more important part of the current economic model — especially now that you can buy, sell, and trade them. The rights to these assets are separated from the assets themselves and traded as NFTs, tokens, stocks, coins, and other derivatives. This is a trend. The most important part is that we’re seeing a new proto-market emerge — that of time spent on entertainment and leisure. This turns hobbies and leisure time into yet another way to buy and sell people’s labor. For companies producing products, rewards in the form of NFTs, tokens, and other liquid assets become another way to redistribute profit. Offering the most attractive terms for players will soon become a crucial part of a sales strategy and of a product life cycle. It will allow businesses to create a strong economic link between the consumer and the product — and make the player depend on the product not only emotionally but also financially. We can see this trend in the evolution of Play-to-Earn projects in developing countries. If you look at the NFT adoption and P2E audience metrics globally, you’ll see that regional leaders and semi-peripheral countries dominate. Their population is wealthy enough to afford a smartphone with an internet connection. But it’s also poor enough to view playing P2E games for many hours daily to earn $1000-1500 a month as a great alternative to a traditional career. We are talking about an urbanized, tech-savvy population, the share of which in developing countries is constantly growing. These countries don’t have advanced state support systems. As a result, dozens of millions of people who have the same access to information, innovation, and the internet as in the West, but don’t have the same economic guarantees, have to find their place in the modern digital economy — and fast. For example, India has an urbanization ratio of just 35%, whereas the average global value is 56%. In this context, as the adoption of digital technology and crypto in developing countries increases together with their population, there is fertile ground for new monetization tools to evolve. This trend is shaped by the audience’s interest and the profit share that product providers are ready to allocate to attract new users. The next step is selling new derivatives based on the time spent playing and one’s achievements in the game; users basically exchange precious minutes of their lives for tokens. Subscriptions, expensive weapon skins, or a high level achieved by one’s characters don’t motivate this target audience as much as an opportunity to earn a stable income. The example of India, which recently introduced a on profits from virtual digital assets, shows how fast countries can monetize this trend. They transfer the costs, social responsibility, and risks onto the people working in this new industry of monetized entertainment, leaving them to fend for themselves. flat 30% tax The high adoption speed and the much more flexible approach to DeFi that we see in developing countries logically follow from them having to play catch-up with the core capitalist states. India, Brazilia, Vietnam — these countries haven’t benefited all that much from the modern economic model. However, crypto gives them a chance to financialize their citizens’ time and become more independent from the traditional fiat reserve currencies (USD, euro, franc, etc.) by prioritizing the new attention economy. 1) We are likely to see a vast range of projects centered around users who earn a comfortable living by playing games on a daily basis. Such users will act as working advertisements for GameFi projects; they will also become a valuable resource that projects will fight over. 2) Financial derivatives based on user actions, attention, and gaming time. Hobbies and leisure will be financialized, and users will choose leisure pastimes based on their financial efficiency. I am sure that eventually, we’ll see portfolios consisting of NFT holders, traded by both gaming projects and financial institutions. This new asset type will be just as profitable and liquid as subprime mortgages. 3) Income increase and fast smartphone and internet penetration in developing countries. It takes time for the benefits of the post-industrial revolution to reach developing countries, but the weak stream of digitization has already turned into fully-flowing rivers in the shape of the OnePlus or Samsung production sites in India and Brazil. The number of smartphones isn’t an isolated fact or just a sign that mobile games are about to become fully dominant, but also a sign of people’s increasing ability to pay for material goods. Those who could only dream of a smartphone a short while ago will buy one soon — and then purchase an NFT skin in a game. The consumer society works the same way in any country. It’s this consumer society that we’ll discuss in the next part of the article. In this new reality, AAA PC games selling for $80 without a DLC and requiring an expensive gaming computer to run will look like an unnecessary luxury. This doesn’t mean that large and expensive AAA projects will die out — but they will have to evolve. For example, Take-Two Interactive has had to split the sequel to its popular GTA franchise to focus on DLC (downloadable content). This helps increase the period throughout which the product continues to earn money — an urgent issue considering inflation and the long and expensive production process. You could say that games are split into smaller segments for studios to keep making money and for players to remain entertained. In the next part of the article, we’ll talk about the society that shapes these trends — and how they, in turn, impact the society. Conclusions 1. Developing countries will drive GameFi adoption thanks to their low starting incomes, fast urbanization, and even faster digitization. The most engaged GameFi audience will consist of people with whom Web3 is the first iteration of the Web that they come in contact. 2. More and more gaming studios will turn to mobile games — thanks both to the lower development costs and the fast spread of smartphones. 3. The governments of developing countries benefit from the spread of crypto. For them, it’s a new way to earn extra income without taking any additional action. 4. AAA-tier gaming projects will introduce DLC mechanics and in-game purchases. Such games take longer and are more expensive to create, but built-in monetization will compensate for this by extending the cycle of profitability. 5. GameFi tokenomics and economics will take center stage as yet another tool to attract and retain players. 6. The time spent playing and enjoying various forms of entertainment will be increasingly financialized. 1) We are likely to see a vast range of projects centered around users who earn a comfortable living by playing games on a daily basis. Such users will act as working advertisements for GameFi projects; they will also become a valuable resource that projects will fight over. 2) Financial derivatives based on user actions, attention, and gaming time. Hobbies and leisure will be financialized, and users will choose leisure pastimes based on their financial efficiency. I am sure that eventually, we’ll see portfolios consisting of NFT holders, traded by both gaming projects and financial institutions. This new asset type will be just as profitable and liquid as subprime mortgages. 3) Income increase and fast smartphone and internet penetration in developing countries. It takes time for the benefits of the post-industrial revolution to reach developing countries, but the weak stream of digitization has already turned into fully-flowing rivers in the shape of the OnePlus or Samsung production sites in India and Brazil. The number of smartphones isn’t an isolated fact or just a sign that mobile games are about to become fully dominant, but also a sign of people’s increasing ability to pay for material goods. Those who could only dream of a smartphone a short while ago will buy one soon — and then purchase an NFT skin in a game. The consumer society works the same way in any country. It’s this consumer society that we’ll discuss in the next part of the article.

Long-Term Game-Fi Trends to Look Out For 

Illustration created with NightCafe As we’ve followed the fascinating twists and turns of numerous works of fiction, whose plots are in one way or another connected with robots, how many of us thought about the fact that we are already living in the very "robotic future" that is often presented in science fiction books, movies, and TV series? It's not as if someone drew a line and said: "By crossing this line, we are stepping into a new era." It's pretty obvious that even the fastest adoption of technology is still gradual. And that's fortunate, as it gives us the opportunity to adapt to the major socio-economic changes that are associated with technological advances. And there is no doubt that robotization entails these major changes. Let's take a look at the current level of robotics development and implementation. Statistics, as usual, will most accurately present the current state of affairs. And the most eloquent statistics of all are financial statistics. And it says that in 2022, the volume of the robotics market amounted to $34 billion. A rather modest, in our opinion, forecast says that by 2028, the market will grow to $45 billion a year. Interestingly, the service robot market is developing most actively. In 2022, it will account for 76% of total market share. This, of course, does not mean that industrial robots have ceased to be of interest. It's just that businesses realized their benefits and the opportunities they provide much earlier. In addition, the previous generation of robotics technology was simply unable to bring even marginally satisfactory models of service robots to market. Today, the state of affairs has changed. Several service and collaborative robots (cobots) have emerged from their diapers and begun to perform their duties in a wide variety of spheres. We are sure that among the readers of this text, there are those who, at home or in the office, use a robot vacuum cleaner and/or robotic carts to deliver various items. But these are by no means the most interesting examples of robotics technology. They are already being replaced by more advanced examples. An example of the next iteration is the Aeo service robot, which is capable of performing various actions using its manipulators. Another is Optimus, a series of humanoid robots from Tesla. It is expected that in the very near future - by 2025 - the market for cobots alone (i.e., robots that interact with people in the workspace) will exceed $12 billion. The current generation of service robots and cobots are already capable of taking over a number of routine, low-skill tasks. For example, they can perform the functions of nurses, security personnel, cleaners, porters, packers, waiters, pickers, "serve and fetch" assistants, and so on and so forth. As a rule, they are equipped with AI that is smart enough to execute voice commands that are given in any form. A separate topic is robotic transportation. According to forecasts, by 2030, 10% of all vehicles on the planet will be self-driving. And this figure is also rather modest in our opinion, and is not because of a lack of technical capability, but instead will result from a combination of price and psychological factors. As far as industrial robots are concerned, today, the creation of fully automated plants and factories is in full swing. In developed countries like South Korea, about 1,000 robots per 10,000 workers are being used in the manufacturing sector. This is a very approximate figure, but in this case, it is not the exact ratio of people to robots that matters. The salient issue is the complexity of these industrial robots. The idea of the factory of the future as an analog of traditional  "human-powered" production facilities in which human beings have been replaced by humanoid robots is fundamentally wrong. Anyone who has been to a robotized production facility knows that an ordinary industrial robot is, in fact, an automatic machine tool. Or an entire assembly line. You will agree that this kind of production unit cannot be considered simply as an improved (from the point of view of factory production) analog of a human being. Each such robot replaces entire teams and workshops. Illustration created with NightCafe The logical development of this concept is the creation of fully automated production facilities. In other words, plants, factories, and other production facilities will each, in fact, be a large and incredibly complex robot. By the way, there is a place for humanoid robots in these production environments, too. However, they should not be considered industrial robots; instead, they should be identified as a new level of service and collaborative robots designed to interact with other robots and maintain their workspaces. What will it look like? Note that we consider most predictions for robotics adoption and development that are statistically based to be too conservative. Of course, solid researchers simply must proceed with caution. But we will allow ourselves to draw on a history in which technological progress has often raced ahead of predictions based on statistical analysis. Think of the rapid evolution of cell phones into smartphones or the first personal computers into light, sleek laptops. So, let's try to imagine a robotic life ten years from now based on a similar rapidity in development. Industrial and factory production will be fully roboticized. Mass-produced goods will be produced by robotic factories. Service robots and cobots will maintain and repair these production facilities; self-directed transportation will deliver raw materials to them and export their finished products. Agriculture will also become extremely automated. This is particularly true with the development of technologies for growing meat products. Traditional livestock farms will mostly disappear, which, it should be noted, will have a positive impact on the environment. Service robots will take over most of the work in commerce and the service industry, which hasn’t transitioned into virtual reality. They will also take care of household chores, repairs, construction, cleaning, street beautification, and the like. Freight transportation and public transport will be completely taken over by self-driving trains, planes, airships, copters, buses, cabs, air cabs, and so on. The share of self-driven private transportation will gradually increase. This trend will be accelerated under the pressure of increasingly stringent safety requirements for drivers. All of the above, combined with the development of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, will rid people almost completely of the work being performed currently that is strenuous, boring, monotonous, or poses a risk to health (or is simply dangerous). In other words, people are not going to have to do most of the work that people have to do now. But what will mankind do? At least that part of it that will enjoy civilization’s benefits? This is the final chapter of our future fantasy. Robert McCall – Metropolis 2050 #4 The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko Illustration created with NightCafe Illustration created with NightCafe Illustration created with NightCafe As we’ve followed the fascinating twists and turns of numerous works of fiction, whose plots are in one way or another connected with robots, how many of us thought about the fact that we are already living in the very "robotic future" that is often presented in science fiction books, movies, and TV series? It's not as if someone drew a line and said: "By crossing this line, we are stepping into a new era." It's pretty obvious that even the fastest adoption of technology is still gradual. And that's fortunate, as it gives us the opportunity to adapt to the major socio-economic changes that are associated with technological advances. And there is no doubt that robotization entails these major changes. Let's take a look at the current level of robotics development and implementation. Statistics, as usual, will most accurately present the current state of affairs. And the most eloquent statistics of all are financial statistics. And it says that in 2022, the volume of the robotics market amounted to $34 billion . A rather modest, in our opinion, forecast says that by 2028, the market will grow to $45 billion a year. $34 billion $34 billion Interestingly, the service robot market is developing most actively. In 2022, it will account for 76% of total market share . This, of course, does not mean that industrial robots have ceased to be of interest. It's just that businesses realized their benefits and the opportunities they provide much earlier. In addition, the previous generation of robotics technology was simply unable to bring even marginally satisfactory models of service robots to market. 76% of total market share 76% of total market share Today, the state of affairs has changed. Several service and collaborative robots (cobots) have emerged from their diapers and begun to perform their duties in a wide variety of spheres. We are sure that among the readers of this text, there are those who, at home or in the office, use a robot vacuum cleaner and/or robotic carts to deliver various items. But these are by no means the most interesting examples of robotics technology. They are already being replaced by more advanced examples. An example of the next iteration is the Aeo service robot, which is capable of performing various actions using its manipulators. Another is Optimus, a series of humanoid robots from Tesla . It is expected that in the very near future - by 2025 - the market for cobots alone (i.e., robots that interact with people in the workspace) will exceed $12 billion . Aeo Aeo Tesla Tesla $12 billion $12 billion The current generation of service robots and cobots are already capable of taking over a number of routine, low-skill tasks. For example, they can perform the functions of nurses, security personnel, cleaners, porters, packers, waiters, pickers, "serve and fetch" assistants, and so on and so forth. As a rule, they are equipped with AI that is smart enough to execute voice commands that are given in any form. A separate topic is robotic transportation. According to forecasts, by 2030, 10% of all vehicles on the planet will be self-driving. And this figure is also rather modest in our opinion, and is not because of a lack of technical capability, but instead will result from a combination of price and psychological factors. 10% of all vehicles 10% of all vehicles As far as industrial robots are concerned, today, the creation of fully automated plants and factories is in full swing. In developed countries like South Korea, about 1,000 robots per 10,000 workers are being used in the manufacturing sector. This is a very approximate figure, but in this case, it is not the exact ratio of people to robots that matters. The salient issue is the complexity of these industrial robots. The idea of the factory of the future as an analog of traditional  "human-powered" production facilities in which human beings have been replaced by humanoid robots is fundamentally wrong. Anyone who has been to a robotized production facility knows that an ordinary industrial robot is, in fact, an automatic machine tool. Or an entire assembly line. You will agree that this kind of production unit cannot be considered simply as an improved (from the point of view of factory production) analog of a human being. Each such robot replaces entire teams and workshops. about 1,000 robots per 10,000 workers about 1,000 robots per 10,000 workers Illustration created with NightCafe Illustration created with NightCafe The logical development of this concept is the creation of fully automated production facilities. In other words, plants, factories, and other production facilities will each, in fact, be a large and incredibly complex robot. By the way, there is a place for humanoid robots in these production environments, too. However, they should not be considered industrial robots; instead, they should be identified as a new level of service and collaborative robots designed to interact with other robots and maintain their workspaces. What will it look like? Note that we consider most predictions for robotics adoption and development that are statistically based to be too conservative. Of course, solid researchers simply must proceed with caution. But we will allow ourselves to draw on a history in which technological progress has often raced ahead of predictions based on statistical analysis. Think of the rapid evolution of cell phones into smartphones or the first personal computers into light, sleek laptops. So, let's try to imagine a robotic life ten years from now based on a similar rapidity in development. Industrial and factory production will be fully roboticized. Mass-produced goods will be produced by robotic factories. Service robots and cobots will maintain and repair these production facilities; self-directed transportation will deliver raw materials to them and export their finished products. Agriculture will also become extremely automated. This is particularly true with the development of technologies for growing meat products. Traditional livestock farms will mostly disappear, which, it should be noted, will have a positive impact on the environment. Service robots will take over most of the work in commerce and the service industry, which hasn’t transitioned into virtual reality. They will also take care of household chores, repairs, construction, cleaning, street beautification, and the like. Freight transportation and public transport will be completely taken over by self-driving trains, planes, airships, copters, buses, cabs, air cabs, and so on. The share of self-driven private transportation will gradually increase. This trend will be accelerated under the pressure of increasingly stringent safety requirements for drivers. All of the above, combined with the development of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, will rid people almost completely of the work being performed currently that is strenuous, boring, monotonous, or poses a risk to health (or is simply dangerous). In other words, people are not going to have to do most of the work that people have to do now. But what will mankind do? At least that part of it that will enjoy civilization’s benefits? This is the final chapter of our future fantasy. Robert McCall – Metropolis 2050 #4 Robert McCall – Metropolis 2050 #4 The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko

What Will the Spring of Technology Bring? Part 3: Robotic Life

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 14th, 2024/Chainwire/-- Antler Interactive is bringing their latest creation, Cloudborn - A Web3 PC RPG with a sprinkle of MMO - into the limelight at GDC 2024. The turn-based battler set in a fantasy sky island realm is poised to take immersive gaming experiences to new heights by intertwining cutting-edge technology to create enchanting gameplay. The game births a seamless blend of strategic gameplay similar to Raid Shadow Legends and the accessibility of the Zelda franchise to create a turn-based RPG like no other. But that is where similarities end. Cloudborn is at the forefront of dynamic gameplay experiences, melding web3 technology and AI to create responsive worlds and gameplay, ultimately owned by the players. With tradeable NFT characters that develop in attributes and personality from the direct actions of the player, Cloudborn is taking immersive and player-owned experiences to the next level. Antler Interactive, the creators of My Neighbor Alice, describes the game as one where players strategize in turn-based battles and players roam an ever-evolving world shaped by their actions. The beauty of the game is in how it utilizes the next-generation tech stack to create dynamic worlds and unique characters, whose attributes and personalities change according to players’ direct actions, creating a truly unrivaled gaming experience. Which then are ultimately owned by the player, giving them full autonomy over their experiences. users can check out the and be impressed for themselves. Cloudborn game trailer Cloudborn’s main features: Dynamic World Building: The Cloudborn verse adapts and changes at the whim of the player, as every action has true consequences on the game's environment, all possible through advanced AI integrations Evolving Characters: playable and non-playable characters evolve based on players’ interactions. These changes stick with the characters even after trading with other players via NFT metadata. Characters you inherit from others will remember their past, for better or worse. Any bonds or rivalries get passed on even after trading. True Ownership: harnessing web3 technology, Cloudborn is giving players true ownership and autonomy over their experiences Strategic Turn-Based Battles: Plan your battles with your army of character cards. Your character lineup and positioning matter on the battlefield. Free Travel & Airship Base Management: The world of Miyunu is yours to explore. Take your customizable airship and explore the floating islands, upgrading your base as you go. Cloudborn will be accessible through the ownership of their in-game digital assets, which can be bought or leased, and will run on the Chromia blockchain. Taking place on fantasy islands in the clouds, Cloudborn is a story of old. According to legend, over a millennia ago a universe-shattering war between 2 godlike powers, leaving behind a fragmented world of sky-islands corrupted the remnants of the war. Players are left to traverse through the skies on their mission to unravel the mystery of the conflict and explore beyond the known.The Cloudborn verse is powered by a unique blend of AI and web3 technology, that has the sole purpose of elevating the gaming experience. Through AI, Cloudborn boasts a dynamic world-building experience, by which the gaming environments and characters react and develop in real-time based on player actions, giving rise to a deeper, unique gaming experience. As Oliwer Svensson, Chief Creative Director of Antler Interactive, says “It's not just binary data, but rather it's unpredictable characteristics that are created by AI that molds your character”. Gameplay is further enhanced by blockchain technology, as characters, items, and progression are in full control of the player. What makes Cloudborn truly special is how it elegantly intertwines the 2 technologies in a harmonious symphony by which gameplay is not only personalized and immersive but carries intent. Lenny Pettersson, CEO of Antler Interactive puts it beautifully, as he believes in using this new technology “as a paintbrush to create great and unique things. ” Whether you are picking up Cloudborn for a casual play-through, or to get into the nitty-gritty of strategic gameplay and theory crafting, you are sure to be greeted with a gaming experience like no other - quite literally. Cloudborn will be demoed next week at GDC 2024, from the 20th to the 22nd of March at the Inworld Booth (2-6 pm, March 20th), and the BGA Booths (all day, March 22nd). Players can access more information on the game through their , , and channels. Twitter Telegram Discord About Anter Interactive Antler Interactive is a Swedish gaming studio renowned for its innovative approach to gaming. Focusing on cutting-edge technologies, Antler Interactive strives to create immersive and involving experiences that captivate players worldwide. Antler, a multi-award-winning gaming studio, won the Binance Launchpool project of the year for My Neighbor Alice. Antler Interactive is a subsidiary of ChromaWay. More information can be found at and . antlerinteractive.com cloudborn.game Contact PR Manager Ramsey Shallal Antler Interactive ramsey@gelocubed.com This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here.

Antler Interactive To Showcase Their Latest Creation, Cloudborn, At GDC

The Blessing and Curse of Dimensional Travel 

The Planet of Pirates 

Astounding Stories of Super-Science March 1931, by Astounding Stories is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . Beyond the Vanishing Point - Chapter III: The Fight in the Shrinking Dome Room Chapter III: The Fight in the Shrinking Dome Room It seemed that Alan was stirring. I felt the tiny hand leave my ear. I thought that I could hear faint little footfalls as the girl scampered away, fearful that a sudden movement from Alan would crush her. I turned cautiously after a moment and saw Alan's eyes upon me. He too had seen, with a blurred returning consciousness, the dwindling figures of Babs and Polter. I followed his gaze. The white slab with the golden quartz under the microscope seemed empty of human movement. The several men in this huge circular dome-room were dispersing to their affairs: three of them sat whispering by what I now saw was a pile of gold ingots stacked crosswise. But the fellow at the microscope held his place, his eye glued to its aperture as he watched the vanishing figures of Polter and Babs on the rock-fragment. Alan seemed trying to convey something to me, He could only gaze and jerk his head. I saw behind his head the figure of the tiny girl on the floor behind him. She wanted evidently to approach his head but did not dare. When for an instant he was quiet, she ran forward, but at once scampered back. From the group by the ingots, one of the men rose and came toward us. Alan held still, watching. And the girl, Glora, seized the opportunity to come nearer. We both heard her tiny voice: "Do not move! Close your eyes! Make him think you are still unconscious." Then she was gone, like a mouse hiding in the shadows near us. Amazement swept Alan's face; he twisted, mouthed at his gag. But he saw my eager nod and took his cue from me. I closed my eyes and lay stiff, breathing slowly. Footsteps approached. A man bent over Alan and me. "Are you no conscious yet?" It was the voice of a foreigner, with a queer, indescribable intonation. A foot prodded us. "Wake up!" Then the footsteps retreated, and when I dared to look the man was rejoining his fellows. It was a strange-looking trio. They were heavy-set men in leather jackets and short, wide knee-length trousers. One wore tight, high boots, and the others a sort of white buskin, with ankle straps. All were bareheaded—round, bullet heads of close-dipped black hair. I suddenly had another startling realization. These men were not of normal size as I had assumed! They were eight or ten feet tall at the very least! And they and the pile of ingots, instead of being close to me, were more distant than I had thought. Alan was trying to signal me. The tiny girl was again at his ear, whispering to him. And then she came to me. "I have a knife. See?" She backed away. I caught the pin-point gleam of what might have been a knife in her hand. "I will get a little larger. I am too small to cut your ropes. You lie still, even after I have cut them." I nodded. The movement frightened her so that she leaped backward; but she came again, smiling. The three men were talking earnestly by the ingots. No one else was near us. Glora's tiny voice was louder, so that we both could hear it at once. "When I free you, do not move or they may see that you are loose. I get larger now—a little larger—and return." She darted away and vanished. Alan and I lay listening to the voices of the three men. Two were talking in a strange tongue. One called to the man at the microscope, and he responded. The third man said suddenly: "Say, talk English. You know damn well I can't understand that lingo." "We say, McGuire, the two prisoners soon wake up." "What we oughta do is kill 'em. Polter's a fool." "The doctor say, wait for him return. Not long—what you call three, four hours." "And have the Quebec police up here lookin' fer 'em? An' that damn girl he stole off the terrace—What did he call her, Barbara Kent?" "These two who are drugged, their bodies can be thrown in a gully down behind St. Anne. That what the doctor plan to do, I think. Then the police find them—days maybe from now—and their smashed airship with them." Gruesome suggestion! The man at the microscope called, "They are gone. Almost. I can hardly see them more." He left the platform and joined the others. And I saw that he was much smaller than they—about my own size possibly. There seemed six men here altogether. Four now, by the ingots, and two others far across the room where I saw the dark entrance of the corridor-tunnel which led to Polter's castle. Again I felt a warning hand touch my face, and saw the figure of Glora standing by my head. She was larger now—about a foot tall. She moved past my eyes; stood by my mouth; bent down over my gag. I felt the cautious side of a tiny knife-blade inserted under the fabric of the gag. She hacked, tugged at it, and in a moment ripped it through. She stood panting from the effort. My heart was pounding with fear that she would be seen; but the man had turned the central light off when he left the microscope, and it was far darker here now than before. I moistened my dry mouth. My tongue was thick, but I could talk. "Thank you, Glora." "Quiet!" I felt her hacking at the ropes around my wrists. And then at my ankles. It took her a long time, but at last I was free! I rubbed my arms and legs; felt the returning strength in them. And presently Alan was free. "George, what—" he began. "Wait!" I whispered. "Easy! Let her tell us what to do." We were unarmed. Two, against these six, three of whom were giants. Glora whispered, "Do not move! I have the drugs. But I can no give them to you when I am still so small. I have not enough. I will hide—there." Her little arm gestured to where, near us, half a dozen boxes were piled. "When I am large as you, I come back. Be ready, quickly to act. I may be seen. I give you then the drug." "But wait," Alan whispered. "We must know—" "The drug to make you large. In a moment then you can fight these men. I had planned it for myself, to do that, and then I saw you held captive. That girl of your world the doctor just now steal, she is friend of yours? "Yes! Yes, Glora. But—" A thousand questions were springing in my mind, but this was no time to ask them. I amended, "Go! Hurry! Give us the drug when you can." The little figure moved away from us and disappeared. Alan and I lay as we had before. But now we could whisper. We tried to anticipate what would happen; tried to plan, but that was futile. The thing was too strange, too astoundingly fantastic. HOW long Glora was gone I do not know. I think, not over three or four minutes. She came from her hiding place, crouching this time, and joined us. She was, probably, of normal Earth size—a small, frail-looking girl something over five feet tall. We saw now that she was about sixteen years old. We lay staring at her, amazed at her beauty. Her small oval face was pale, with the flush of pink upon her cheeks—a face queerly, transcendently beautiful. It was wholly human, yet somehow unearthly, as though unmarked by even the heritage of our Earthly strifes. "Now! I am ready." She was fumbling at her robe. "I will give you each the same." Her gestures were rapid. She flung a quick glance at the distant men. Alan and I were tense. We could easily be discovered now, but we had to chance it. We were sitting erect. He murmured: "But what do we do? What happens? What—" On the palm of her hand were two small pink-white pellets. "Take these—one for each of you. Quickly!" Involuntarily we drew back. The thing abruptly was gruesome, frightening. Horribly frightening. "Quickly," she urged. "The drug is what you call highly radio-active. And volatile. Exposed to the air it is gone very soon. You are afraid? No! No, it will not harm you." With a muttered curse at his own reluctance, Alan seized the pellet. I stopped him. "Wait!" The men momentarily were engaged in a low-voiced, earnest discussion. I dared to hesitate a moment longer. "Glora, where will you be?" "Here. Right here. I will hide." "We want to go after Mr. Polter." I gestured. "Into that little piece of golden rock. Is that where he went? Is that where he took the Earth girl?" "Yes. My world is there—within an atom there in that rock." "Will you take us?" "Yes! Yes!" Alan whispered suddenly, "Then let us go now. Get smaller, now." But she shook her head vehemently. "That is not possible. We would be seen as we climbed the platform and crossed the white slab." "No." I protested. "Not if we get very small, hiding here first." She was smiling, but urgently fearful of this delay. "Should we get that small, then it would be, from here"—she gestured toward the microscope—"to there, a journey of very many miles. Don't you understand?" This thing so strange! Alan was plucking at me. "Ready, George?" "Yes." I put the pellet on my tongue. It tasted slightly sweet, but seemed quickly melted and I swallowed it hastily. My head swam. My heart was pounding, but that was apprehension, not the drug. A thrill of heat ran through my veins as though my blood were on fire. Alan was clinging to me as we sat together. Glora again had vanished. In the background of my whirling consciousness the sudden thought hovered that she had tricked us; done to us something diabolical. But the thought was swept away in the confusion of the flood of impressions upon me. I turned dizzily. "All right, Alan?" "Yes, I—I guess so." My ears were roaring, the room seemed whirling, but in a moment that passed. I felt a sudden, growing sense of lightness. A humming was within me—a soundless tingle. To every tiny microscopic cell in my body the drug had gone. The myriad pores of my skin seemed thrilling with activity. I know now it was the exuding volatile gas of this disintegrating drug. Like an aura it enveloped me, acted upon my garments. I learned later much of the principles of this and its companion drug. I had no thought for such things now. The huge dimly illumined room under the dome was swaying. Then abruptly it steadied. The strange sensations within me were lessening, or I forgot them. And I became aware of externals. The room was shrinking! As I stared, not with horror now, but with amazement and a coming triumph, I saw everywhere a slow, steady, crawling movement. The whole place was dwindling. The platform, the microscope, were nearer than before, and smaller. The pile of ingots, with the men off there, was shifting toward me. "George! My God—weird!" I saw Alan's white face as I turned to him. He was growing at the same rate as myself evidently, for of all the scene he only was unchanged. We could feel the movement. The floor under us was shifting, crawling slowly. From all directions it came, contracting as though it were being squeezed beneath us. In reality our expanding bodies were pushing outward. The pile of boxes which had been a few feet away, were thrusting themselves at me I moved incautiously and knocked them over. They seemed small now, perhaps half their former size. Glora was standing behind them. I was sitting and she was standing, but across the litter, our faces were level. "Stand up!" she murmured. "You all right now. I hide!" I struggled to my feet, drawing Alan up with me. Now! The time for action was upon us! We had already been discovered. The men were shouting, clambering to their feet. Alan and I stood swaying. The dome-room had contracted to half its former size. Near us was a little platform, chair and microscope. Small figures of men were rushing at us. I shouted, "Alan! Watch yourself!" We were unarmed. These men might have automatics. But evidently they did not. Knives were in their hands. The whole place was ringing with shouts. And then a shrill siren alarm from outside was clanging. The first of the men—a few moments before he had seemed a giant—flung himself upon me. His head was lower than my shoulders. I met him with a blow of my fist in his face. He toppled backward; but from one side, another figure came at me. A knife-blade bit into the flesh of my thigh. The pain seemed to fire my brain. A madness descended upon me. It was the madness of abnormality. I saw Alan with two dwarfed figures clinging to him. But he threw them off, and they turned and ran. The man at my thigh stabbed again, but I caught his wrist and, as though he were a child, whirled him around me and flung him away. He landed with a crash against the shrunken pile of gold nuggets and lay still. The place was in a turmoil. Other men were appearing from outside. But they stood now well away from us. Alan backed against me. His laugh rang out, half hysterical with the madness upon him as it was upon me. "God! George, look at them! So small!" They were now hardly the height of our knees. This was now a small, circular room, under a lowering concave dome. A shot came from the group of pigmy figures. I saw the small stab of flame, heard the sing of the bullet. We rushed, with the full frenzy of madness upon us, enraged giants. What actually happened I can not recount. I recall scattering the little figures; seizing them; flinging them headlong. A bullet, tiny now, stung the calf of my leg. Little chairs and tables under my feet were crashing. Alan was lunging back and forth; stamping; flinging his tiny adversaries away. There were twenty or thirty of the fig ures here now. Then I saw some of them escaping. The room was littered with wreckage. I saw that by some miracle of chance the microscope was still standing, and I had a moment of sanity. "Alan, watch out! The microscope! The platform—don't smash it! And Glora! Look out for her!" I suddenly became aware that my head and a shoulder had struck the dome roof. Why, this was a tiny room! Alan and I found ourselves backed together, panting in the small confines of a circular cubby with an arching dome close over us. At our feet the platform with the microscope over it hardly reached our boot-tops. There was a sudden silence, broken only by our heavy breathing. The tiny forms of humans strewn around us were all motionless. The others had fled. Then we heard a small voice. "Here! Take this! Quickly! You are too large! Quickly!" Alan took a step. And then a sudden panic was on us both. Glora was here at our feet. We did not dare turn; hardly dared move. To stoop might have crushed her. My leg hit the top of the microscope cylinder. It rocked but did not fall. Where was Glora? In the gloom we could not see her. We were in a panic. Alan began, "George, I say—" The contracting inner curve of the dome bumped gently against my head. The panic of confusion which was upon us turned to fear. The room was closing in to crush us. I muttered. "Alan! I'm going out!" I braced myself and heaved against the side and top curve of the dome. Its metal ribs and heavy translucent, reinforced glass plates resisted me. There was an instant when Alan and I were desperately frightened. We were trapped, to be crushed in here by our own horrible growth. Then the dome yielded under our smashing blows. The ribs bent; the plates cracked. We straightened, pushed upward and emerged through the broken dome, with head and shoulders towering into the outside darkness and the wind and snow of the blizzard howling around us! About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various. 2009. Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1931. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30166/30166-h/30166-h.htm#Beyond_the_Vanishing_Point . This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

The Fight in the Shrinking Dome Room

সঙ্কুচিত গম্বুজ ঘরে লড়াই

Der Kampf im Shrinking Dome Room

La pelea en la sala de la cúpula que se encoge

Le combat dans la salle du dôme qui rétrécit

सिकुड़ते गुंबद कक्ष में लड़ाई

縮小するドームルームの戦い

점점 작아지는 돔룸에서의 싸움

A luta na sala do domo encolhendo

Küçülen Kubbe Odasındaki Mücadele

Cuộc chiến trong căn phòng mái vòm bị thu hẹp

缩小的圆顶房间里的战斗

Einstein's Law of Gravitation

The A B C of Relativity by Bertrand Russells, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. V. SPACE-TIME V. SPACE-TIME Everybody who has ever heard of relativity knows the phrase “space-time,” and knows that the correct thing is to use this phrase when formerly we should have said “space and time.” But very few people who are not mathematicians have any clear idea of what is meant by this change of phraseology. Before dealing further with the special theory of relativity, I want to try to convey to the reader what is involved in the new phrase “space-time,” because that is, from a philosophical and imaginative point of view, perhaps the most important of all the novelties that Einstein has introduced. Suppose you wish to say where and when some event has occurred—say an explosion on an airship—you will have to mention four quantities, say the latitude and longitude, the height above the ground, and the time. According to the traditional view, the first three of these give the position in space, while the fourth gives the position in time. The three quantities that give the position in space may be assigned in all sorts of ways. You might, for instance, take the plane of the equator, the plane of the meridian of Greenwich, and the plane of the ninetieth meridian, and say how far the airship was from each of these planes; these three distances would be what are called “Cartesian co-ordinates,” after Descartes. You might take any other three planes all at right angles to each other, and you would still have Cartesian co-ordinates. Or you might take the distance from London to a point vertically below the airship, the direction of this distance (northeast, west-southwest, or whatever it might be), and the height of the airship above the ground. There are an infinite number of such ways of fixing the position in space, all equally legitimate; the choice between them is merely one of convenience. When people said that space had three dimensions, they meant just this: that three quantities were necessary in order to specify the position of a point in space, but that the method of assigning these quantities was wholly arbitrary. With regard to time, the matter was thought to be quite different. The only arbitrary elements in the reckoning of time were the unit, and the point of time from which the reckoning started. One could reckon in Greenwich time, or in Paris time, or in New York time; that made a difference as to the point of departure. One could reckon in seconds, minutes, hours, days, or years; that was a difference of unit. Both these were obvious and trivial matters. There was nothing corresponding to the liberty of choice as to the method of fixing position in space. And, in particular, it was thought that the method of fixing position in space and the method of fixing position in time could be made wholly independent of each other. For these reasons, people regarded time and space as quite distinct. The theory of relativity has changed this. There are now a number of different ways of fixing position in time, which do not differ merely as to the unit and the starting point. Indeed, as we have seen, if one event is simultaneous with another in one reckoning, it will precede it in another, and follow it in a third. Moreover, the space and time reckonings are no longer independent of each other. If you alter the way of reckoning position in space, you may also alter the time interval between two events. If you alter the way of reckoning time, you may also alter the distance in space between two events. Thus space and time are no longer independent, any more than the three dimensions of space are. We still need four quantities to determine the position of an event, but we cannot, as before, divide off one of the four as quite independent of the other three. It is not quite true to say that there is no longer any distinction between time and space. As we have seen, there are time-like intervals and space-like intervals. But the distinction is of a different sort from that which was formerly assumed. There is no longer a universal time which can be applied without ambiguity to any part of the universe; there are only the various “proper” times of the various bodies in the universe, which agree approximately for two bodies which are not in rapid relative motion, but never agree exactly except for two bodies which are at rest relatively to each other. The picture of the world which is required for this new state of affairs is as follows: Suppose an event E occurs to me, and simultaneously a flash of light goes out from me in all directions. Anything that happens to any body after the light from the flash has reached it is definitely after the event E in any system of reckoning time. Any event anywhere which I could have seen before the event E occurred to me is definitely before the event E in any system of reckoning time. But any event which happened in the intervening time is not definitely either before or after the event E. To make the matter definite: suppose I could observe a person in Sirius, and he could observe me. Anything which he does, and which I see before the event E occurs to me, is definitely before E; anything he does after he has seen the event E is definitely after E. But anything that he does before he sees the event E, but so that I see it after the event E has happened, is not definitely before or after E. Since light takes many years to travel from Sirius to the earth, this gives a period of twice as many years in Sirius which may be called “contemporary” with E, since these years are not definitely before or after E. Dr. A. A. Robb, in his Theory of Time and Space, suggests a point of view which may or may not be philosophically fundamental, but is at any rate a help in understanding the state of affairs we have been describing. He maintains that one event can only be said to be definitely before another if it can influence that other in some way. Now influences spread from a center at varying rates. Newspapers exercise an influence emanating from London at an average rate of about twenty miles an hour—rather more for long distances. Anything a man does because of what he reads in the newspaper is clearly subsequent to the printing of the newspaper. Sounds travel much faster: it would be possible to arrange a series of loud speakers along the main roads, and have newspapers shouted from each to the next. But telegraphing is quicker, and wireless telegraphy travels with the velocity of light, so that nothing quicker can ever be hoped for. Now what a man does in consequence of receiving a wireless message he does after the message was sent; the meaning here is quite independent of conventions as to the measurement of time. But anything that he does while the message is on its way cannot be influenced by the sending of the message, and cannot influence the sender until some little time after he sent the message. That is to say, if two bodies are widely separated, neither can influence the other except after a certain lapse of time; what happens before that time has elapsed cannot affect the distant body. Suppose, for instance, that some notable event happens on the sun: there is a period of sixteen minutes on the earth during which no event on the earth can have influenced or been influenced by the said notable event on the sun. This gives a substantial ground for regarding that period of sixteen minutes on the earth as neither before nor after the event on the sun. The paradoxes of the special theory of relativity are only paradoxes because we are unaccustomed to the point of view, and in the habit of taking things for granted when we have no right to do so. This is especially true as regards the measurement of lengths. In daily life, our way of measuring lengths is to apply a foot rule or some other measure. At the moment when the foot rule is applied, it is at rest relatively to the body which is being measured. Consequently the length that we arrive at by measurement is the “proper” length, that is to say, the length as estimated by an observer who shares the motion of the body. We never, in ordinary life, have to tackle the problem of measuring a body which is in continual motion. And even if we did, the velocities of visible bodies on the earth are so small relatively to the earth that the anomalies dealt with by the theory of relativity would not appear. But in astronomy, or in the investigation of atomic structure, we are faced with problems which cannot be tackled in this way. Not being Joshua, we cannot make the sun stand still while we measure it; if we are to estimate its size, we must do so while it is in motion relatively to us. And similarly if you want to estimate the size of an electron, you have to do so while it is in rapid motion, because it never stands still for a moment. This is the sort of problem with which the theory of relativity is concerned. Measurement with a foot rule, when it is possible, gives always the same result, because it gives the “proper” length of a body. But when this method is not possible, we find that curious things happen, particularly if the body to be measured is moving very fast relatively to the observer. A figure like the one at the end of the will help us to understand the state of affairs. previous chapter Let us suppose that the body on which we wish to measure lengths is moving relatively to ourselves, and that in one second it moves the distance OM. Let us round O whose radius is the distance that light travels in a second. Through M draw MP perpendicular to OM, meeting the circle in P. Thus OP is the distance that light travels in a second. draw a circle The ratio of OP to OM is the ratio of the velocity of light to the velocity of the body. The ratio of OP to MP is the ratio in which apparent lengths are altered by the motion. That is to say, if the observer judges that two points in the line of motion on the moving body are at a distance from each other represented by MP, a person moving with the body would judge that they were at a distance represented (on the same scale) by OP. Distances on the moving body at right angles to the line of motion are not affected by the motion. The whole thing is reciprocal; that is to say, if an observer moving with the body were to measure lengths on the previous observer’s body, they would be altered in just the same proportion. When two bodies are moving relatively to each other, lengths on either appear shorter to the other than to themselves. This is the Fitzgerald contraction, which was first invented to account for the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment. But it now emerges naturally from the fact that the two observers do not make the same judgment of simultaneity. The way in which simultaneity comes in is this: We say that two points on a body are a foot apart when we can simultaneously apply one end of a foot rule to the one and the other end to the other. If, now, two people disagree about simultaneity, and the body is in motion, they will obviously get different results from their measurements. Thus the trouble about time is at the bottom of the trouble about distance. The ratio of OP to MP is the essential thing in all these matters. Times and lengths and masses are all altered in this proportion when the body concerned is in motion relatively to the observer. It will be seen that, if OM is very much smaller than OP, that is to say, if the body is moving very much more slowly than light, MP and OP are very nearly equal, so that the alterations produced by the motion are very small. But if OM is nearly as large as OP, that is to say, if the body is moving nearly as fast as light, MP becomes very small compared to OP, and the effects become very great. The apparent increase of mass in swiftly moving particles had been observed, and the right formula had been found, before Einstein invented his special theory of relativity. In fact, Lorentz had arrived at the formulæ called the “Lorentz transformation,” which embody the whole mathematical essence of the special theory of relativity. But it was Einstein who showed that the whole thing was what we ought to have expected, and not a set of makeshift devices to account for surprising experimental results. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that experimental results were the original motive of the whole theory, and have remained the ground for undertaking the tremendous logical reconstruction involved in Einstein’s theories. We may now recapitulate the reasons which have made it necessary to substitute “space-time” for space and time. The old separation of space and time rested upon the belief that there was no ambiguity in saying that two events in distant places happened at the same time; consequently it was thought that we could describe the topography of the universe at a given instant in purely spatial terms. But now that simultaneity has become relative to a particular observer, this is no longer possible. What is, for one observer, a description of the state of the world at a given instant, is, for another observer, a series of events at various different times, whose relations are not merely spatial but also temporal. For the same reason, we are concerned with events, rather than with bodies. In the old theory, it was possible to consider a number of bodies all at the same instant, and since the time was the same for all of them it could be ignored. But now we cannot do that if we are to obtain an objective account of physical occurrences. We must mention the date at which a body is to be considered, and thus we arrive at an “event,” that is to say, something which happens at a given time. When we know the time and place of an event in one observer’s system of reckoning, we can calculate its time and place according to another observer. But we must know the time as well as the place, because we can no longer ask what is its place for the new observer at the “same” time as for the old observer. There is no such thing as the “same” time for different observers, unless they are at rest relatively to each other. We need four measurements to fix a position, and four measurements fix the position of an event in space-time, not merely of a body in space. Three measurements are not enough to fix any position. That is the essence of what is meant by the substitution of space-time for space and time. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Bertrand Williams (2004). THE A B C OF RELATIVITY. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67104/67104-h/67104-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

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